1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a phenol. More particularly, the present invention relates to a process for producing a phenol, having an excellent effect that a separability of an oil layer and an aqueous layer in a washing step, can be heightened whereby the production of the phenol can be conducted under high productivity.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is disclosed in, for example, JP2005-162710 A, a process for producing a phenol by:
oxidizing a raw material containing an alkyl benzene with oxygen or air to obtain an oxidation reaction mixture containing a hydroperoxide;
extracting the oxidation reaction mixture with an alkali aqueous solution to obtain an extract (I) containing the hydroperoxide;
extracting the extract (I) with an organic solvent to obtain an extract (II) containing the hydroperoxide;
washing the extract (II) with water to separate into an oil layer containing the hydroperoxide, in which a content of the alkali is low, and an aqueous layer; and
subjecting the hydroperoxide contained in the oil layer to acidolysis to obtain a phenol.
However, the above-described process did not have a good separability between the oil layer and the aqueous layer in the water washing step, therefore, it was insufficient from the viewpoint of realization of high productivity.